Toyota Automakers Promote Safety Over Autonomous Ability

Many auto manufacturers have invested heavily in self-driving vehicles. Many analysts believe this is the way of the future, with full autonomous vehicles a possible reality within the next 10 years.

While the Toyota brand has also made some investments in this area, it is taking a slower and steadier approach. Instead, the brand is placing a heavier emphasis on safety technology.

According to Gill Pratt, who heads the Toyota Research Institute, it is unnecessary to invest too heavily in level 5 autonomous cars at this stage in the game.

A level 5 vehicle is a car with full self-driving capabilities, meaning zero human input required. No prototype of such a model exists as artificial intelligence technology just hasn’t reached that point yet. Some brands, though, are testing level 3 cars, which allows hands-free driving but still require a driver to take control in some situations.

Pratt says that the technicians for the auto brand is indeed working on self-driving cars, but it’s in no hurry to reach level 5 capability. Instead it’s focusing more heavily on reducing road casualties.

The auto brand has already released a suite of accident avoidance systems. The short-term goal is to release a level 2 car by 2020. One accompanying technology for this is Highway Teammate. With this feature, the self-driving comes into play during maneuvers like merging and changing lanes on a busy highway.

The automaker also has a generous $1 billion budget for working on such technology.